Investigates Blog

Another collapse for Cowboys facility’s builder

The company that built the Dallas Cowboys’ failed practice facility (right) has suffered another collapse of one of its large tentlike structures.

This one’s at a fairgrounds in northwest Pennsylvania, reports a little paper there called The Meadville Tribune. And fortunately, no one was hurt — unlike here, where one Cowboys staffer was permanently paralyzed below the waist, another suffered a broken neck without paralysis, and 10 others were injured less seriously.

A judge in Philadelphia previously blamed a third collapse there on design errors by the same company: Canada-based Cover-All Building Systems and its U.S. subsidiary, Summit Structures. It has denied wrongdoing and insisted its buildings are safe.

The Philadelphia collapse occurred after a heavy snow in early 2003, as did the latest Pennsylvania collapse. Last year’s disaster in Irving occurred during a thunderstorm.

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